This study starts by pointing out problems in the contemporary church. The secularization of the church made the crisis of its identity and mission of the church. As a result, the church does not give influence to the society to bring on the Kingdom of God, but ends up becoming more secularized. Also, the congregations have become an aggregate of individuals; they are content with the direct relationship with God without being in union with others in the church.
The purpose of this thesis is to develop a leadership preaching model for the transformation of the congregation as an alternative community and to transform the congregation who are becoming secularized to not follow the world, but to live in God.
Firstly, in order to do this, the study investigates the process of the upbuiding of the church from a practical-theological ecclesiology perspective to identify a biblical and relevant church model. Secondly, the transformation of the congregation is also the role of leadership as we consider practical-theological ecclesiology; it is also understanding the changing process of the congregation from the perspective of leadership. Lastly, because preaching, in essence, is an act of ministry for the upbuilding of the church; as the secularized church is only to be transformed as an alternative community by preaching, we need to understand the role of leadership in preaching for upbuilding of the church.
This study has been done by these following procedures:
In the I chapter, problems were brought up and the aim and process was referred.
In the II chapter, the study evaluates previous works and theses on Christian leadership written in the past 10 years on leadership, and the recent book on preaching and leadership, 360-degree leadership by Michael J. Quicke.
In the III chapter, we investigate the secularization of the church and the crisis of the church by the absence of leadership, the need for integration of preaching and leadership and the interdependence of preaching and leadership.
In the IV chapter, I investigate practical theological ecclesiology and the model of leadership as a theoretical rationale for an alternative community. In the 'practical theological ecclesiology' part, the need for practical theological ecclesiology is considered and also the process of the upbuilding of the church - realization - implementation - visioning - transforming. For leadership, I considered various types of leadership perspectives from the social science and the Bible, and as the transforming process of the congregation, the following processes are identified - Making personal preparation - Creating Urgency - Establishing the vision community - Discerning the vision and Determining the visionpath - Communicating the vision - Empowering change leaders - Implementing the Vision - Reinforcing Momentum through Alignment.
In the V chapter, this study proposes a leadership preaching model for building up the church as an alternative community. Leadership Preaching requires firstly the preparation and self-understanding of the preacher as a leader. Also, the characteristics of the alternative community it is identified as the purpose of leadership preaching. And as well, in order to build up an alternative community, the characteristics it is identified as the communication in the church, the process of transformation of the congregation, the language and sermon forms according to the learning styles in the congregation.
In the last VI chapter, the summary and implications of the thesis, the limits and challenges of the thesis were mentioned.
The conclusions of the thesis are as follows:
First, leadership preaching needs the understanding of leadership.
Second, because the church is the primarily context of preaching, the leadership preaching needs practical-theological ecclesiology to identify a biblical and relevant church model and the process of the transformation of the congregation from the contemporary situation. This study proposes an alternative community as a biblical and relevant church model.
Third, the purpose of preaching is to transform the congregation, but it is not just the transformation of individuals but the community. In order to do this, the transforming process of the congregation should be considered.
Forth, for homiletic hermeneutic, the preacher needs the understanding of not only the text, but also a more precise understanding of the congregation. Accordingly, the thesis presents a more systematic hermeneutic method to understand the congregation and in this interpretation, the role of the congregation. Also, a homiletic hermeneutic is provided for an alternative community.
Fifth, for the preacher to deliver the sermon effectively, the understanding of communication within the church is needed. This communication is to be dialogue communication in the church. In this dialogue, the language and various sermon forms should be considered by the various learning styles of the congregation.